Back in August, it was reported that the retail packages of some, if not all, Intel's Sandy Bridge-E Core i7 LGA2011 processors will not pack the certified cooling solution like Core i7 LGA1366 processors do. It was also reported that Intel will sell its own-branded cooling solutions separately. It became a little obvious right then, that Intel won't selling dinky-little heatsinks that cost a couple of dozen Dollars. At the ongoing IDF event, Intel displayed its first retail-packaged cooling solution that's not only LGA2011-compatible, but also supports older socket types such as LGA1155, LGA1156, and LGA1366.

The cooling solution is a closed-loop (self-contained) liquid cooler made by water cooling OEM Asetek. Called the RTS2011LC, the cooler is rated to cool processors with TDP of up to 130W. The cooler consists of an exposed-copper block that also houses the pump, tough and flexible tubing that runs to the radiator assembly, which houses a reservoir, and a fancy-looking 120 mm fan. Along with the fan, the Intel logo on the block lights up blue. The radiator used looks similar to that on the Hydro Series H70, a popular cooler by Corsair, which is also made by Asetek. Expected to be available around the same time as Core i7 LGA2011 processors, the Intel RTS2011LC could command a price over $99.

This is strange. Why offer a closed-loop liquid cooling solution and then go out of the way to out source it. It'd make more sense if they built something in-house and included it with all EE processors.

This is strange. Why offer a closed-loop liquid cooling solution and then go out of the way to out source it. It'd make more sense if they built something in-house and included it with all EE processors.

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Because Intel never makes any cooling solutions in-house, they always source it. The reference LGA775/1156/1155/1366 coolers are all sourced from Sanyo-Denki, OEM'ed by Foxconn.

LED and some of the most industrious looking tubing I've seen. They only had to pick the fan, block cover, and tubing and they dropped the ball on all of it. If you're sucking air from the back don't use a fan with concave sides. You don't want to suck any air from a case you've turned into an easy-bake oven by ditching an exhaust fan and dumping 130 watts into it. The LED, aside from looking shitty, adds another failure point. They should have taken a cue from the H70 with the chrome logo. Less complexity and reflects any other case light quite nicely. I swear if it weren't for the inefficiency of consumer spending every large company would have imploded long ago.

Probably, but it's likely you CPU would be running warm as Intel's cooling is generally crap and there is always better cooler solutions than them.

As for my opinion on this cooler even though it's suppose to be the same as a Corsair H50 (just looks like a slightly modified and rebranded version) I would say the Corsair one is slightly better than this Intel one.

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Does watercooling seem useful for Sandy Bridge-E ?
The poll gave no stipulations as to the environment, clocking, or other situations, so, I voted yes; and, because, from my personal use of this category of cooler, I have noticed better or equal cooling performance over most other types of finned air coolers (with the exception of custom water loops or exotics), with less intrusion on other components (I can actually, get to the memory modules and fan headers without slicing fingers open).

The Intel branded solution looks good from the pics, but before I bash the cooler or berate Intel... I will wait for some test results(comparisons) and, also, wait to see at what price point the retail market sets.
If all things being equal and/or cheaper at the same perfomance level, I would use one.
Just my opinions.

This is going to prove to be a huge pain in the ass for intel.
Have any of you looked on the forums of brands offering these types of coolers... theres a lot that can go wrong with them and loads of DOA, leaks, breakdowns.

I'm guessing that Intel will regret bundling this with their CPU's as people will end up RMA'ing the lot and as everything gets returned back with the RMA they will end up with loads of opened boxes and fully working CPU's returned.

Anyways its a nice idea.. hell I even bought into the whole "all in one" watercooling with my Corsair H100, but having done that I now realise just how many things can break on that kit and it dosent feel like a long term reliable cooling solution compared to a solid metal one with a fan.

This is going to prove to be a huge pain in the ass for intel.
Have any of you looked on the forums of brands offering these types of coolers... theres a lot that can go wrong with them and loads of DOA, leaks, breakdowns.

I'm guessing that Intel will regret bundling this with their CPU's as people will end up RMA'ing the lot and as everything gets returned back with the RMA they will end up with loads of opened boxes and fully working CPU's returned.

Anyways its a nice idea.. hell I even bought into the whole "all in one" watercooling with my Corsair H100, but having done that I now realise just how many things can break on that kit and it dosent feel like a long term reliable cooling solution compared to a solid metal one with a fan.

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I have a H100 also had a coolit there not going to leak the most that could go wrong is the pump craps out.